LEAP aims to create leaders in synthetic biology who consider their impacts on society. Therefore, as the global synthetic biology community continues to grow, we wanted LEAP to make a broader impact. As the world came together at SB7.0 we saw an opportunity to help the community reflect and look to the future. The following sections represent a challenge posed to the community each day of the conference.

Through the interactive “I like”, “I wish”, “I wonder”, “I will” activity we asked participants to collectively reflect on the synthetic biology community. We asked participants both at the conference and abroad to participate on twitter with the hashtags #ilike #iwish #iwonder #iwill. Through the in-person post-it activity. Participants were able to participate at SB7.0, often building off one another’s ideas.

#ilike focused on what people liked about the synthetic community and it’s impacts

#iwish focused on what people wished were different

#iwonder was where we move past reflection by asking what people wonder for the future

#iwill pushed the community to commit to how they will help make that future a reality

This allowed for a platform where the community could build off one another's ideas and reflections. The retweets represented a community coming together to build on one another's ideas and visions. Some used the platform as a pace to scheme up crazy collaborations and or as a way to ask for help in building something entirely new, while others used it to reflect on the impact of synthetic biology on the world - both perceived and tangible, current and in the future. We were inspired and excited by the results of this experiment and we hope that the synbio community will continue to connect, collaborate, and reflect together, even in-between conferences.

Thank you for sharing your inspiring #iwill statements that will continue to move forward and shape our field! #synbioleap#SB7conf